Energy stocks rise along with oil prices

SteveGelsi

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks moved higher Monday along with the overall market, getting an added boost from $93 crude prices after stormy weather forced Mexico to shut down about a fifth of its offshore oil production.

The Philadelphia Oil Index
OSX, -1.60%
rose 0.4% to end the session at 297.9 points.

Exxon Mobil
XOM, -4.58%
rose 1.5% to $93.61 a share after the oil giant received word that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear its appeal of a $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the lawsuit surrounding the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. See full story.

Petro China
PTR, -1.72%
rose $7.83, or 3.2%, to $254.30 after it priced its Shanghai initial public offering at the top of its range.

Western Refining
WNR, +0.41%
fell 0.9% to $37.80, giving back early gains after ticking higher on an upgrade from UBS to neutral from sell.

Oil States International
OIS, -2.56%
rose 0.6% to $43.06 after it was downgraded to neutral from buy at Oppenheimer.

Tesero
TSO, +1.15%
fell 5.2% to $61.11, giving back some of its gains in the previous session on an offer from Kirk Kerkorian to buy up to 20% of the company. See full story.

In a note to clients, UBS said it sees limited upside from current prices of Tesoro, but the "aggressive" tender offer from Kerkorian "should increase interest in all refiners."

Oil futures closed at an all-time high of $93.53 a barrel on Mexico's production outages and further weakness for the U.S. dollar against other currencies. Crude oil is a dollar-denominated commodity, which means overseas producers get less per barrel when the dollar drops in value. See Futures Movers.

Natixis Bleichroeder Inc. on Monday said in a note to clients that oil prices above $90 a barrel may not be justified by supply data.

"The oil price move to record territory has been accompanied by some geo-political issues, continued inventory draws and very aggressive buying by non-commercial speculators," Natixis said. "That said, we are less than certain that the fourth-quarter oil market undersupply condition of roughly 1.1 million barrels a day justifies prices above $90 a barrel."

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